Questions tagged [supernova]
Questions regarding stars which increase suddenly in energy output due to an explosion which ejected much of its mass.
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Scientifically important discoveries with the help of amateurs
I am looking for examples where amateur astronomers in these days contributed sigificantly to important scientifically discoveries.
I am aware of one example: Victor Buso from Argentina was lucky ...
2
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1answer
47 views
Can radioactive decay rates be confirmed by looking at supernova?
Radiometric dating relies on accurate knowledge of the half-lives of radioactive elements. Skeptics have argued that since many elements' half-lives are too long for anyone to have observed them, we ...
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2answers
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Are we really star-stuff from the interior of collapsing stars?
Carl Sagan has said several times that we are "star-stuff".
One instance can be found in Good Reads' Carl Sagan > Quotes > Quotable Quote:
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the ...
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1answer
149 views
Is it possible to predict a supernova with years or decades of advanced notice?
I know star phenomena like solar flares can (at some degree) be predicted:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5371481/Scientists-predict-solar-flares.html
Question: Is there any ...
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3answers
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What would happen if someone had a telescope and watched Betelgeuse when it goes supernova?
Would that person go blind?
Neutrino detectors and the abundance of Neutrinos would detect the upcoming visible show about 3 hours before any visible signs, so there would be time to point certain ...
2
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1answer
39 views
Comprehensible full manual for bolometric light curve reconstruction
Could anyone point me to some manual or tutorial, possibly step-by-step one, on reconstruction of (quasi-) bolometric light curve using UBVRI-photometry data?
Both links and names are fine for me.
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2answers
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Could two stars collide without a resultant explosion?
Are there any scenarios in which two stars could collide, and simply fuse without triggering a supernova. Maybe a mid-sized star slowly spiraling in together with a smaller star? It seems like any ...
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1answer
60 views
Could population III stars develop directly into population I stars?
Hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, the very first stars began to form consisting of mostly hydrogen, a bit of helium, and maybe some lithium. These stars lacked any "metals" (elements ...
2
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2answers
124 views
How much iron does a star fuse before going supernova? [duplicate]
I understand stars fuse atoms into heavier and heavier elements. When the star starts to fuse iron, the amount of energy released is less than the amount of energy it to takes to fuse the atoms. This ...
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1answer
27 views
Finding the SN explosion time by t-square fitting
In a couple of papers I've read that it's usual practice to fit early rise of supernova luminosity curve by $t^2$. Let me describe how I see it:
I take the early fast rising part of luminosity curve ...
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1answer
34 views
Normalizing the supernova spectrum by photometry
I have a SN spectrum here (already reduced) that seems to have some artifacts. Professor tells me that I may have to normalize it using photometry.
As far as I understand, I just have to multiply it ...
3
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1answer
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Searches for dipole form of anisotropies (on luminosity distances) in the universe with type Ia supernovae
There are many articles like this one Testing the isotropy of the Universe by using the JLA compilation of type-Ia supernovae (PDF, arxiv.org) trying to search for a dipole effect in cosmology with ...
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2answers
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What is a type la supernova? [closed]
I’ve heard about them and know that they are used as standard candles, but what exactly are they? What makes them differ from other supernovae? Also, are they only special because of their use as ...
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1answer
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What does the word “shock cooling” mean in supernova physics?
I cannot understand the meaning of "shock cooling" which occurred in supernova.
And I saw the sentence like "Early photometry and spectroscopy reveal evidence of shock cooling of an extended helium-...
5
votes
1answer
116 views
Why is there a Phillips relation?
I want to know the explanation of Phillips relation, the relation seen in type Ia supernovae(SN Ia with broader light curve is brighter). More Ni-56 implies a larger luminosity at peak but what about ...
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3answers
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Why type Ia supernova reaches its peak absolute magnitude(~ -19.3mag) at around 15-20 days after the explosion?
I'm not sure why type Ia supernova reaches its peak magnitude 15-20 days after the explosion. Is this luminosity generated only by the radioactive decay of nickel-56 to cobalt-56?(considering a half-...
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2answers
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Could an astronomical process create elements in the islands of stability?
I was reading about heavy elements recently, and I took note of the theorized islands of stability, and how some the elements involved are considerably heavier than anything we've been able to ...
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0answers
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Is the acceleration of the expansion of the universe a direct observation or an interpretation?
Is the acceleration of expansion we observe with supernovae direct or is this an interpretation according $\Lambda$CDM model ?
I mean what we observe is luminosity distance versus redshift, so to see ...
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2answers
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What happens when a star gets hit by a supernova?
This may sound like a strange question, but say that two stars are relatively next to one another in a binary star system, what would happen to one of the stars if the other went supernova? Would it ...
3
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1answer
63 views
Star - Black Hole binary. Star core Collapses. Does the black hole immediately grow from neutrinos?
I was reading on how Type II Supernovae release as much as 99% of their energy as neutrinos. So I was thinking: suppose there was a large star and black hole binary system, but the two were not close ...
2
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1answer
34 views
Secondary maximum in SNIa lightcurves for near infrared
Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) are thermonuclear supernovae that generates a lot of Nickel 56 which emits photons while disintegrating.
How is the secondary maximum in lightcurves for reddish bands (see ...
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2answers
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Is there a name for the star/supernova hypothesized to have been a precursor to the Solar System?
I found an article suggesting a supernova injected debris which helped nudge the formation of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago.
I couldn't find a name for this hypothetical star/supernova after ...
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1answer
96 views
How do isolated binary compact systems survive their formational supernovae?
In a broad sense I'm trying to understand how a binary black hole or neutron star systems can form from isolated binary massive star systems (i.e., other than from migration within rich BH/NS clusters)...
3
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2answers
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Superluminous super nova output
I was reading about how powerful supernova were and found out there are even bigger supernovae also called hyper nova. A large explosion was discovered in 2016 I believe (or was it 2017). I would ...
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3answers
517 views
Is there a possibility that a white dwarf can turn into a neutron star or a black hole?
I know that a white dwarf is mainly balanced by electron degeneracy pressure and that if it gains more than 1.4 solar masses from any source (such as a companion star or a collision), it explodes as a ...
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2answers
182 views
Is a supernova powerful enough to destroy the other star in a binary system?
(This question was originally posted via World Building, but I was instructed to post it here)
https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/109457/is-a-supernova-powerful-to-destroy-the-other-...
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1answer
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creations after supernovas [closed]
Why is it the some massive stars go supernovae and than either form a black hole, pulsar or a magnetar. All stars essentially go through the same process when they’re alive and burning through their ...
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2answers
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How many Supernovae have been Imaged in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field?
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field is an image showing about 10.000 galaxies:
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Image Credit: NASA
Consider Victor Buso's spectacular discovery of an early supernova in NGC 613 (named SN 2016gkg):
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Image ...
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2answers
538 views
Does Gold really come from Supernovas? [duplicate]
Do we really know that the origin of gold was in a supernova explosion?
I am talking about the gold we find here on Earth.
So then how are we sure that Gold actually came from these explosions. Did ...
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1answer
56 views
Mass-magnitude relation of evolved stars
In short: what mass is appropriate for absolute magnitude $M_V \sim -7$?
Some context: I'm processing the observational data (supernova light curve) and curve fitting gives me about $0.4M_\bigodot$ ...
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0answers
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How is Phosphorus made in in stars? [duplicate]
What elements are required to fuse into phosphorus in a star. Can someone give me a step by step process please e.g
4 hydrogen nuclei fuse into one helium nuclei and then 3 helium nuclei
fuse ...
6
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1answer
142 views
Does this amateur observation hold a record even including robotic searches for supernovae?
The new paper in Nature A surge of light at the birth of a supernova (doi:10.1038/nature25151) describes the fortuitous capture of a supernova "Shock Breakout" - the earliest rise in brightness of a ...
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0answers
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Core collapse supernova vs Neutron Star
I am reading about massive stars and their final consequences. what I understood is massive stars after throwing out their outer envelop with masses > 1.4 solar Mass turn into neutron stars. But I ...
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0answers
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Doubt about star formation [duplicate]
When a star runs out of hydrogen, it either goes through supernova or forms white dwarf and planetary nebula. So there should not be much hydrogen left to form a new star in the nebula. So how new ...
5
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1answer
447 views
Supernova in Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
If you could put a supernova in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Where would it be? Would it be near the white dwarfs or near the super giants?
I know that a supernova isn't a star but rather the ...
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1answer
89 views
Is there any phenomenon where a supernova doesn't anything leave behind?
I have been researching this on google, and I think there is a process. What is this process called? I have forgotten.
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1answer
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How to visually tell the difference between a planetary nebula and a supernova remnant?
If we see a nebula by looking through a powerful telescope, how can we tell whether we are looking at the remnant of a supernova or at a planetary nebula?
Thanks
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1answer
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Mechanics of Supernovae
Where does the energy from a supernova come from?
My understanding is that the iron core collapses into a large ball of neutrons - is that effectively a star-sized nuclear explosion? What is the ...
6
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1answer
123 views
Delay between neutrino pulse and visible flash of supernova
If you were orbiting a star undergoing a core-collapse supernova, what would be the delay between the neutrino pulse from the collapse and the first visible effects on the surface? Basically, I'm ...
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1answer
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Identifying cataclysmic stellar phenomena
Cataclysms such as novas, kilonovas, supernova, magnetars, quasars, gamma ray bursts are rarely visible from Earth. Under what conditions (such as distance, day vs. night, naked eye vs. level of ...
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1answer
273 views
Does a kilonova leave a high mass remnant?
My understanding of Type Ia supernovae is that they are expected, in most cases, to destroy the white dwarf(s) that went in to them, leaving behind no high density remnants (i.e. no white dwarf, ...
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0answers
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Do mixed type remnant collisions produce anything interesting?
The recent detection of a binary neutron star inspiraling and colliding raises an interesting question in my mind. Type Ia supernovae are believed to be caused by white dwarf/regular star pairs and/or ...
6
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1answer
2k views
Is a kilonova bigger than a supernova?
My question is straight forward. Is a kilonova bigger than a supernova?
Update
How does a kilonova differ from a nova in terms of...
luminosity
duration
energy
volume of space occupied by the ...
5
votes
1answer
132 views
How does a planet lose mass to its host star?
How do bodies like WASP-12b lose mass to its central body? The process is never really explained in popular media, instead showing visualisations of a thin veil of gas being "sucked" in a rather ...
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2answers
105 views
Is there any cosmological evidence that neutrinos travel at a speed other than c?
I've been looking into neutrinos. One thing I'm puzzled about is how fast they travel.
See the Wikipedia SN1987A article where you can read this: “approximately two to three hours before the visible ...
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4answers
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Is there an example of a star that is already dead, but can still be seen on earth?
While looking up at the stars I wondered, what are the odds that some of them are already dead. I did some research and found a very interesting article here. It states that the odds are rather small, ...
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1answer
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Supposed SN 1006 was only 4 lightyears away what would the blasts impact be like on earth?
One of the commenters on my answer to https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/86733/3460 questions that the blast would even have a noticeable impact if that supernova was in Alpha Centauri. And ...
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3answers
839 views
Why do medium stars collapse to form supernovae while big stars collapse to form black holes?
I understand that a star runs out of fuel slowly and gradually by fusing heavier and heavier particles (because of pressure by gravity) until the last heaviest particle is not able to fuse at the core ...
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0answers
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Was the Crab Nebula to the southeast of Zeta Tauri 1,000 years ago?
I've been reading about SN 1054 and how most professional investigators believe that it is the Crab Nebula today. But the wiki article has this to say:
The location of the guest star as "to the ...
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2answers
155 views
What does it mean 'black holes is created when center of a very massive star collapses in upon itself'?
I read many times that black holes is created when center of a very massive star collapses in upon itself but what does it mean ? Does weight of center of massive star increase so much that itself can'...
